Reviews

bmj-archive... Is an example of what you are talking about in the very first scene as the camera pans down from the clock, then as it reaches street level on the detective, it pulls back? (and then seems to push back forward again?), If that is what you refer to, it is VERY annoying. Do you have a list of great B-movies from this era to refer us to? I feel like 1939 was Hollywood's zenith. The 40s was the era of the detective and noir. It was down hill ever since. Back then movies used to follow a plot line and tell a story. Today you need to sift through a couple of dozen films to find one with half the charm as the golden age of Hollywood. It's fun to reflect back. Those were the days. Remember when they had the true stars of the movie go on the radio and re-enact the film on the different radio programs? How great would that be today? It's a lost art form, like music has become. Although music is completely dead/

Reviewer:bullie89 -
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June 9, 2013 Subject:
I posted this on behalf of someone else. I did not do anything else to it.

I just posted it on behalf of someone else. I did not do anything else do it. If somebody has a better print, please share. Thanks.

A good movie, with Dick Powell at his hard-boiled best (the "new" Dick
Powell, of course). But what MORON ruined a classic with the pan & scan
(& zoom, and even an occasional rotation, no less)? Did he/she/it think
that he/she/it was actually improving the work of the cinematographer?
Besides the annoying extraneous motion (and I don't mean just the sudden
vertical pans; how did those get in there?), it also ruins the composition
(and Hollywood cinematographers of the time were typically masters of
dynamic composition).

Memo to "Futuristfood": No, idiot, that's not the movie's "style" -- it's
due to another idiot playing with a video toy. Watch a few hundred other
movies of the era and you'll realize that. (Or just observe how the
"Mystery" logo moves around -- i.e., the atrocity was committed after it
left their hands.)

This has all the ingredients of a good noir. There are three glamorous actresses, Evelyn Ankers, Ellen Drew and Nina Foch, all with their own unique looks and style. Dick Powell is good as Johnny O'Clock, junior partner in a casino, and Lee J. Cobb, who never diappoints, is the detective gunning for him. The dialogue is crisp and good and the plot and action move along nicely. Many thanks to the uploader for this little gem.

This is a pretty good movie, predictable bit of noir for the period but still entertaining. Could be a four star but I don't want to give these movies too high a rating because they're free or old alone, others will probably bump it up for me. I watched the compressed MPEG version and it stopped being herky-jerky after the movie finished downloading. Lee J. Cobb is always good.